PPMC pipeline on fire in Delta

At least four persons were critically injured when a pipeline of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company exploded around Adeje town in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State on Saturday evening.

It was gathered that victims of the explosion were carrying out repair work on the vandalised facility of PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations, when it exploded and went up in flame.

Security source said the incident occurred near a Mobile Police base in the area.

The victims were deployed to the scene to clamp the pipeline after the facility, which conveys petroleum products to Benin City depot of PPMC and other parts of the country, was attacked by suspected illegal bunkerers.

The fate of the wounded oil workers could not be immediately ascertained.

Sources told our reporter that they were rushed to the Delta State University Teaching Hospital in nearby Oghara, Ethiope West LGA.

The facility was still on on fire at the time of this report last night

It could not be ascertained if PPMC or its parent company had made any effort to out off the fire.

Motorists on the Benin/Warri ‎highway said huge bellow of smoke enveloped the road from the fire scene.

“The fire was raging, and there was no sign of a firefighting team when we passed there about 30minutes ago,” a commercial bus driver told our reporter on telephone.